Commissioned in 1632
by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to house the remains of his cherished wife,
the Taj Mahal stands on the southern bank of the Yamuna River in Agra, India.
The famed mausoleum complex, built over more than 20 years, is one of the most
outstanding examples of Mughal architecture, which combined Indian, Persian and
Islamic influences. At its center is the Taj Mahal itself, built of shimmering
white marble that seems to change color depending on the sunlight or moonlight
hitting its surface. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1983, it
remains one of the world’s most celebrated structures and a stunning symbol of
India’s rich history.
TAJ MAHAL: SHAH
JAHAN’S ROMANTIC GESTURE
Shah Jahan was a member of the Mughal dynasty that ruled
most of northern India from the early 16th to the mid 18th-century. After the
death of his father, King Jahangir, in 1627, Shah Jahan emerged the victor of a
bitter power struggle with his brothers, and crowned himself emperor at Agra in
1628. At his side was Arjumand Banu Begum, better known as Mumtaz Mahal
(“Chosen One of the Palace”), whom he married in 1612 and cherished as the
favorite of his three queens.
Did You Know?
“According to one gruesome (and most likely sensational) story, Shah
Jahan had his minions cut off the hands of the Taj Mahal's architect and his
workers after the structure was completed, ensuring they would never build
another of its kind”.
In 1631, Mumtaz Mahal died after giving birth to the
couple’s 14th child. The grieving Shah Jahan, known for commissioning a number
of impressive structures throughout his reign, ordered the building of a
magnificent mausoleum across the Yamuna River from his own royal palace at
Agra. Construction began around 1632 and would continue for the next two
decades. The chief architect was probably Ustad Ahmad Lahouri, an Indian of
Persian descent who would later be credited with designing the Red Fort at
Delhi. In all, more than 20,000 workers from India, Persia, Europe and the
Ottoman Empire, along with some 1,000 elephants, were brought in to build the
mausoleum complex.
DESIGN AND
CONSTRUCTION OF THE TAJ MAHAL
Named the Taj Mahal in honor of Mumtaz Mahal, the mausoleum
was constructed of white marble inlaid with semi-precious stones (including
jade, crystal, lapis lazuli, amethyst and turquoise) forming intricate designs
in a technique known as pietra dura. Its central dome reached a height of 240
feet (73 meters) and was surrounded by four smaller domes; four slender towers,
or minarets, stood at the corners. In accordance with Islamic tradition, verses
from the Quran were inscribed in calligraphy on the arched entrances to the
mausoleum, in addition to numerous other sections of the complex. Inside the
mausoleum, an octagonal marble chamber adorned with carvings and semi-precious
stones housed the cenotaph, or false tomb, of Mumtaz Mahal. The real
sarcophagus containing her actual remains lay below, at garden level.
The rest of the Taj Mahal complex included a main gateway
of red sandstone and a square garden divided into quarters by long pools of
water, as well as a red sandstone mosque and an identical building called a
jawab (or “mirror”) directly across from the mosque. Traditional Mughal
building practice would allow no future alterations to be made to the complex.
As the story goes, Shah Jahan intended to build a second grand mausoleum across
the Yamuna River from the Taj Mahal, where his own remains would be buried when
he died; the two structures were to have been connected by a bridge. In fact,
Aurangzeb (Shah Jahan’s third son with Mumtaz Mahal) deposed his ailing father
in 1658 and took power himself. Shah Jahan lived out the last years of his life
under house arrest in a tower of the Red Fort at Agra, with a view of the
majestic resting place he had constructed for his wife; when he died in 1666,
he was buried next to her.
THE TAJ MAHAL OVER
THE YEARS
Under Aurangzeb’s long rule (1658-1707), the Mughal empire
reached the height of its strength. However, his militant Muslim policies,
including the destruction of many Hindu temples and shrines, undermined the
enduring strength of the empire and led to its demise by the mid-18th century.
Even as Mughal power crumbled, the Taj Mahal suffered from neglect and
disrepair in the two centuries after Shah Jahan’s death. Near the turn of the
19th century, Lord Curzon, then British viceroy of India, ordered a major
restoration of the mausoleum complex as part of a colonial effort to preserve
India’s artistic and cultural heritage.
Today, some 3 million people a year (or around 45,000 a day
during peak tourist season) visit the Taj Mahal. Air pollution from nearby
factories and automobiles poses a continual threat to the mausoleum’s gleaming
white marble façade, and in 1998, India’s Supreme Court ordered a number of
anti-pollution measures to protect the building from deterioration. Some
factories were closed, while vehicular traffic was banned from the immediate
vicinity of the complex.
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